More About the Data
The ARTBA U.S. Salary & Hourly Wage Guides contain annual salary and hourly wage information for 421 occupational titles related to our industry sectors, as identified and collected by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). For each occupation, data is available on the national, state and local level, showing average and median annual salaries and hourly wages, as well as break-points at the 10th, 25th, 75th and 90th percentiles where available.
The national data is specific for each sector guide. The state and local data are cross-industry averages for those occupations most commonly found in highway, street and bridge construction. In today’s employment marketplace, your competition for talent aren’t just other transportation construction firms … it is all other businesses and public agencies in the area—regardless of the industry. Using the guide, you can drill down to a specific occupation and see what firms are paying the same type of work in your local area, and then compare that to wages in neighboring areas and statewide.
All data are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2019 Occupational Employment Estimates (released March 2020). The data has not been adjusted for inflation. Detailed data is not always available for every locale and occupation and will depend on the information collected by DOL as part of their survey process. Any available information is included in the ARTBA guide.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates these occupation estimates from data collected in a national survey of employers. This data is collected from employers of every size, in every state, in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, in all industry sectors, however it does not include self-employed persons.
The data consists of the following:
Occupation Title: a descriptive title that corresponds to the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification code.
Median Wage: this is the estimated 50th percentile of the distribution of wages based on data collected from employers in all industries. Half of the workers in an occupation earn less than the median wage, and half earn more than the median wage.
Mean Wage: the estimated total annual/hourly wages of an occupation divided by the occupation’s estimated employment, i.e., the average annual/hourly wage.
Percentile Wage Estimates: A percentile wage estimate shows what percentage of workers in an occupation earn less than a given wage and what percentage earn more. This percentile breakdown is provided for annual and hourly wages. For example, a 25th percentile annual wage of $30,000 indicates that 25 percent of workers (in a given occupation in a given area) earn less than $30,000 per year; therefore 75 percent of workers earn more than $30,000 per year.
For more information about the specific industry guides, click here.